Than to seal a gap between a bathroom and a wall: we close a back sealant, foam

Even a small gap between the wall and the bathroom can cause major trouble. In the worst case, you have to pay for repairs in the bathroom of neighbors from the bottom, and in the best case - to watch how mold grows under your bathroom and there are various unsympathetic insects. Avoid these effects can be even at the initial stage of repair, as the main reason for the appearance of the gap lies in uneven surfaces.

Walls in the bathroom must necessarily converge at an angle of 90 degrees, otherwise the gap is inevitable. If during the repair you noticed that the angle of convergence is wider than necessary, the walls must be leveled. The same with the floor: it should be perfectly even.

There is one more reason for the appearance of the gap.

If the bath is shorter than the wall along which it is installed, a gap can not be avoided.

In this case, you either have to:

• install an additional false wall of gypsum board;
• if the first option "eats" too much usable space, patch walls and install a longer bath.

However, if the repair is completed and there is no desire to dismantle the finish and start all over again, you can try to get rid of the gap after the fact. In most cases, this is not difficult, you just need to choose the most suitable method.

Cement mortar is an almost universal tool that can solve many domestic problems. This is one of the most reliable, but not the most aesthetic solution, therefore, after all the work is completed, it will be necessary to make sure that the gives the embedded gap a more aesthetic look:

1. Clean the slit from dirt and mucus, if necessary removeold finish.
2. Prepare the solution. When mixing, try to achieve a consistency of thick sour cream.
3. Estimate the dimensions of the gap: if it is wide enough, the cement slurry will be spilled onto the floor. To avoid this, first impregnate with a mixture of old rags and put a gap in them.

When the rag will dry a little, moisten the gap and start slowly and gently pour the solution into it. Make sure that the outer part of the seam is obtained as soon as possible.

Faster, but no less versatile, than cement mortar is a mounting foam. With its help to seal the gap between the wall and the bathroom can be in minutes. Unlike the mortar, the mounting foam can only be laid on a dry surface. Therefore, after you clean and degrease the gap, blot it from the inside with a dry rag and let it dry for a while.

For work in the bathroom, choose a moisture-resistant mounting foam, this information is shown on the packaging.

Procedure:

1. Shake the can several times, insert the nozzle into the gap and begin to fill gently. Remember that as it dries, the foam expands very much, sometimes several dozen times, so do not try to fill the gap to the brim. The mounting foam dries for about an hour.
2. After finishing the time set for drying, use a sharp knife to cut the edges so that the surface is as flat as possible.
3. It can be masked by the same methods as in the previous case - facing tiles, PVC curbs or waterproof paint.

The most modern product is silicone sealant. The stores offer a large selection of sealants for different uses. Among them you need to find a sealant for the bathroom, because it contains antibacterial substances that prevent the formation of mold. Sealants come in different colors, but we advise you to purchase a transparent, as the most versatile option.

Procedure:

1. Remove any debris from building materials, dirt and slime.
2. Clean the gap with degreasing solution, for example with alcohol or acetone and wipe dry.
3. Open the spout on a tube with silicone sealant and fill the gap with its contents, using an assembly pistol for this. From the angle at which the nose was cut, the width of the line will depend. The sharper the angle, the narrower it will be. Make sure that the line is flat and not interrupted.
4. While the seam is not dry, trim it, moistening the finger with a soap solution.
5. For greater aesthetics, the seam can be masked. We described the methods in detail above.

Skirting boards made of plastic are the most popular of all skirting boards for the bathroom. They are successfully used to seal the gap between the wall and the bathroom. Plinth of PVC can be easily and quickly installed and just as easy to dismantle. In addition, plastic - a fairly soft and elastic material, so this plinth can be easily adjusted to the size of the bath.

In shops you can find plastic skirting boards with ready-made glue base. We do not recommend using them in a bathroom environment, since the adhesive composition applied to them is usually not waterproof. It is better to use a waterproof adhesive designed for plastic. It should be white, and even better - colorless. Be sure to choose a quick-drying compound, since you will have to press the skirting board until the glue grabs.

Procedure:

1. Clean, degrease and dry the gap.
2. Make all necessary measurements and trim the skirting board at a 45-degree angle.
3. Attach the plastic skirting to the joint of the bath with the wall, while without glue and glue the paint tape to those parts of the wall and bath that join with it.
4. Remove the plinth and lubricate the gap with glue.
5. Fix the plinth in place and press it for several minutes.
6. After the adhesive is completely dry, you can peel off the adhesive tape.
7. The joint of plastic skirting with a wall must be treated with a sealant for the bathroom.

Another inexpensive, modern method, which does not require special efforts, is the use of a curb tape. It is made of polypropylene and impregnated with a special compound that prevents the occurrence of mold.

Pros:

• does not require additional decoration;
• is characterized by high water resistance, so it can be safely used in conditions of high humidity.

The only drawback of the of this method is that even the best quality curb tape will last you no more than two years. But with the active use of the bathroom you will have to change it every year.

The width and thickness of the tape will depend on the size of the gap. Pre-cleaned, degreased and dried slot fill with a colorless silicone sealant. Next cut off a piece of tape, the appropriate size and apply liquid nails on it. Now you can glue the tape over the gap. You need to wait at least a day before you start using the bathroom.

You can close the gap by using tiles. It's best to use the one that remained after the walls are faced. If, after repairs, nothing remains, just get a white tile of a suitable size, such that you need a minimum trim. White tiles will merge with the white bathroom, provided that it is white and therefore the curb will be almost invisible. If you used a decorative curb while decorating the walls with tiles, then you can decorate the joint with the same curb.

Beginning with the preparatory works:

1. If it is possible to climb under the bath, install a wooden frame directly under the slit in order to prevent the cement slurry from entering the floor.
2. If this is not possible, seal the gap with a rag soaked in solution, as in the first method.
3. Pour the cement slurry into the gap and wait until it dries slightly.
4. Then lay the tile, adjusting the distance between the fragments with special plastic crosses.
5. After a day, treat the joints with a suitable grout.

There are a huge number of options for sealing the joint between the wall and the bathroom. Above, we listed only standard solutions. But there is no limit to the human imagination, therefore, a description of "people's" ways of getting rid of this trouble constantly appears on the web. They offer both completely new solutions using original materials, as well as methods that are a combination of the ones we described in this article.

Here is one of these combined methods:

1. Fill the gap with the mounting foam and allow it to dry completely.
2. Next, you need to gently cut the surplus and cover the seam with silicone sealant. This will make the surface smoother and in addition increase the water resistance of the structure.
3. After the sealant has dried, we paste a curbstrap over it. Thus, combined from three different ways, this method should be three times more reliable.

You can come up with your own method of solving this problem. The main requirements are waterproof and aesthetic appearance.